Knitting-machine



(No Model.) Y 2 Sheets-Sheet 1. J. ADAMS.

KNITTING MAGHINE. No. 270,275. Paterjed lan. 9,1883.

(No Mudel.) 2 sheetssheen 2.

` J'. ADAMS. KNITTING MACHINE.

No. 270,275. Patented'Jan. 9,1883.

wlTNEssEs:

aww/m I @Uw/ turret) STATES "PATENT einen..

JOSEPH ADAMS, OF PHILADELPHIA, PENNSYLVANIA.

,KNITTING-MACi-HNE.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 270,275, dated January9, 1883,

` Application sled Apriti-1,1882. (Nomaden To all whom 'tonay concern:

Be it known that I, JOSEPH ADAMS, of the city and county ofPhiladelphia, in the State of Pennsylvania, have invented a new anduseful Improvement` in Knitting.- Machines, of which the following is aspecilication.

My invention relates to knitting-machines in general, being applicableeither to the class which employs a circular system of needles or to themachines which employ straight rows of needles. i i

Knitting, asis well known, consistsin making a fabric by enchaining asingle thread.

My machine is herein described as applied to machines ofthe ordinarycircular kind which produce a tubular fabric. In these machines,

, as is well known, the needles are bearded and r ery of airotatingcylinder,

wise motion, and the stitch is formed in thev fixed in a verticalposition around the periph- 'lhey have no endfollowing manner: It beingassumed that there has been set up upon the needlesneartheirlower rangedradially and diagonally acrossits face,

which is adapted to operate upon the yarn and the fabric. The wings of asinker-Wheel then press theyarn in between the needles-and insure thatthere shall be a suicient quantity to form loopsofthe proper size.The-needlebeards are then pressed in by apresser-wheel, so that theirpoints enter depressions in the stems, the yarn fed by the loop-wheelbeing thus inclosed between the beard andthe stem. The old loops arethen raised by a landingwheel a short distance above and outside of thepoints ofthe beards. A stripping or knocking-over wheel or otherdevicethen throws the old loops entirely over the points of the needles,andthe fabric,with the newly-formed row of loops, is pressed down tothelower ends of the needles by a curved cloth-presser.

The above is the method of forming a plain tubular fabric in which theweb isident-ical in weave throughout all parts.

-set forth.

The presser-wheel employed in the above method of knitting is asmooth-edged disk, horizontally'placed and located in such relation tothe beards of the needles as to press each beard as the latter revolvesinto contact with the wheels periphery into the depression t in itsneedles stem. The presser-wheels are removable from ol the presser-barswhich support them.

i When it is desired to make what is technically known as tuck-work theplain presseri wheels are either removed or withdrawn from action, andwhat are known as fuuck-pressers brought into action.

Tuck-pressers are dat disks of the same diameter as the presser-wheels,or plain pressers, as the latter are sometimes called, around theperiphery of which are radially-disposed notches or indentations ofvarying depth, and so alternately or otherwise placed each with itsneighbor as to leave portions of the periphery untouched-that is, offull diameter, and adapted to encounter the beards of the needles in amanner similar to that ofthe plain pressers.

When a tuck-presser is applied to the lmachine its operation upon thebeards of the which is provided with both a tuck-presser and a plainpresser, and is constructed Vand operated substantially in the mannerhereinafter In the accompanying drawings, Figurelrepreseuts inlongitudinal vertical central section a knitting-machine embodying myimprove- A ments. Fig. 2 is an enlarged detail similar to Fig. 1, andespecially illustrative ofthe pressers and their attachments. Fig. 3 isa top plan view, and Fig. 4 a side elevation, of aconvenient form ofpresser-bar or support for the pressers. Fig. 5 is a bottom view tot theplain presser and the collar upon which it rotates. Figs. 6 and 7are-top plan views of a. portieri of the needles and needle-cylinder andof the IOO plain and tuck pressers' in opposite positions, in Fig. 6 theplain presser being in operation and in Fig. 7 the tuck-presser. Fig.Sis a top plan detail oi' the Ivilain-presser-operating camway. Fig. 9is a side elevation of the same represented as locked to the bed-plate.

ASimilar' letters of reference indicate corresponding parts.

In the/drawings, A represents a needlecyl inder ot' any preferredconstruction, supported upon a stem, B, and provided with acircularseries of needles, C, the beards of which are indica-ted by the letterD. rlhe needle-cylinder is erected in suitable relation to a bed-plate,E, which may be ot' any desired and usual form. Atiixed to the undersurface of the needle-cylinder is an annular plate, F, adapted torevolve with the cylinder. Above the annular plate, and between it andthe lower edge ofthe exterior face-plate of the needle-cylinder, is acamway-ring, Gr, whose exterior i'ace is' beveled trom above inwardlyand downwardly.

. Resting upon the annularplate, and fitted snugly against the ring G,is an annular camway, being an annulus of' metal whose interior faceisbeveled oppositely and correspondingly to the bevel of the ring G, sothat the cam way, when in place upon the annular plate, cannot be liftedtherefrom. The periphery of the camway is of varying contour, asindicated in Fig. 8, having segmental portions of dit'erent radii.According to the shape of the camway will be the throw of thepresser-lever, as hereinafter set forth.

I is a pin, which, when in the position represented in Figs. l and2,.passes through a hole, a, in the camway and into a hole, b, in theannular plate adapted to receive it. When this pin is placed in theabove'manner the camway is looked to the annular plate andrcvolvesfixedly with said plate and the needle-cylinder.

J is a iixed stop upon the bed-plate exterior to the'camway, but soclose thereto that the oamwayin its revolution barely clears it.

lt' the pin l be removed from its vertical seat in the holes a andb,asshown in Figs. 1 and 2, and introduced horizontally into ahorizontal hole, c, formed in the side of the camway, as in Fig. 8, orin dotted lines in Fig. 1,

it will encounter the fixed stop upon the bed-.

plate, and while in such position will prevent the revolution of thecamway with the needlecylinder and will hold the camway fixed, so thatthe annular plate will slide beneath it. Any number oi' holes may beformed horizontally in the 'side of the camway, so that the camway maybe locked in any desired position with respect to the bed-plate.

K is a standard affixed to the bed-plate of the machine, from which iserected any suitable adjustable housing or fitting, L, to which isconnected the presser-bar M, which projects horizontally toward andradially with respect to the needle-cylinder. v

N is a stem vertically erected from the foris supported the tuck-presser0, which is fitted to closely encircle said stem land revolve tixedlywith respect thereto and without any lateral play; Surrounding the stem,and resting direct upon the upper surface ofthe presser-bar, is asliding collar, I), the periphery1 of which is circular and which iscentrally provided with an elliptic slot, Q. Around the 'collar isfitted a plain presser, or presser-wheel, strictly as such, which isfree to revolve' around said collar and upon the upper face of thepresser-bar upon which it rests. The tuck-presser rests and re# volvesupon the plain presser, as will be readily understood by roterence tothe drawings.

From the above relationship ot' parts it will be obvious that while thetuck-presser is incapable ot' lateral movement and must revolve ixedlywith reference to the stem, the plain presser, while compelled torevolve around the -periphery of the collar as an axis, is yet capa thatthe major axis of its elliptic slot is radialto the needle-cylinder, inwhich. position, asis evident, the only motion of the collar is to orfrom the needle-cylinder in the direction of a projected radius thereof.

S is a lever pivoted at or near its center to aprojecting arm,T, ofthestandardK,equipped, as to its lower extremity, with a friction-roller,U, (which, in the set of the machine, should collie in line with theexterior' face ofthe camway, and which, if de'sired,is made adjustableby a set-screw, as represented, in order to enable with precision suchsetting in 1ine,`) and at its upper extremity bil'urcated into twoprongs, V, which'respectively pass through a longitudinal slot, W, inthepresser-bar and enter seats X in the initier face ofthe collar.

Y is a spiral spring connected with the le ver above its fulcrum, andalso connected with the iixed stock of the presser-bar or other portionofthe standard or its tting.

v In connection with the pressers are of course employed the loop,sinker, and stripper Wheels, usual in these machines. In the drawingsthey have for clearness of illustration been omitted. A series ot' thesecombined tuck and plain pressers and attachments, corresponding innumber to the number of the loopwheels, may be employed.

Such being a convenient construction of an IOO TIO

apparatus embodying my invent-ion, its operation is as follows: In theset of the machine the lever S is designed to be perpendicular, ornearly so, and to have its friction-roller soset with respect to thecamway as to be operated upon by the latter to occasion the oscillationofthe lever. The presser-bar and tuck-presser are so set that the latteris always in engagement with the beards of the needles in the ordinaryset and operation of the machine. ward extremity ofthe presser-bar, uponwhich When it is desired that the tuck-presser shall alone operate, thecamwayis pinned to the bed-plate in such position that thefrictionroller rests in the depressed surface thereof, inwhich positionthe spiral spring draws the upper extremity of the lever and the plainpresser away from the beards of the needles. When it is desired to throwthe tuck-presser partially out ot'operation and the plain presser intooperation, so as to do plain and tuck work,

the camway is pinned to the annular plate and' caused thereby to revolvewith the needle-cylinder, so that it operates upon the frictionroller tooccasion the oscillation of the lever and the consequent movement of theplain presser into and out `of engagement with the beards.

By a regulation ot the contour of the operative face of the camway andof the position of the notches in the tuck-presser and of the set of thelatter with respect to the set of the calnway, the apparatus may becaused todo altogether tuck-work or altogether plain work.

When desired to hold the plain, presser constantly in operation againstthe beards the camway may be locked to the bed-plate so that its largerdiameter or. face is in contact with the friction-roller and is in theopposite position to that represented in Fig. 8.

I have represented in the drawings various adjusting deviceswhereby theset of the presser-bartmay be either vertically or horizontallyadjusted, whereby the set of the friction-roller may be controlled, andthe various operative parts of the-device adjusted at will. Otherdevices than the pin and stud may be employed to lock the camway to theneedle-cylinder or hohl it fixed and out of the control of therevolution of the latter. I simplyrepresent the above devices asconvenient for the purpose.

I regard the collar with the elliptic bore and thetorked lever lockedtherewith aswell adapted in connection with :the camway to effectuatethe movement of the plain presser; but mechanics will readily understandthat equivaient devices or kindred contrivances modified as tomechanical structure can be substituted therefor.

Having thus described my invention, I claim- 1. In a knitting-machine,the following instrumentalitiesin combination: first, aneedlecylinderprovided with a series of verticallyplaced bearded needles and mechanismfor revolving said cylinder; second, a tuck-presser situated in suchrelation tosaid cylinder as to be always in mesh with the beards on theneedles; third, a plain presser placed concentrically with thetuck-presser but. adaptedto be moved toward and from the needles in adirection. radial to their cylinder; fourth, a lever connected with theplain presser; and, fifth, a camway upon the needle-cylinder adapted toencounter the lever and occasion the throw both ot' said lever and withit of the plain presser, vsubstantially as described.

2.111 combination with the presser-har pro engaged as to its upperextremity with the collar and in lineas to its lower extremity with acamway, a cam way upon a needle-cylinder, and a needle-cylinder,-substantially as described. 3. In combination with the needle-cylinder,

a camway, and means i'orlocking the camway to said needle-cylinder,substantially as setl fortha In testimony whereofl have hereunto signedmy name this 8th day of April, A. D. 1882. JOSEPH ADAMS. `In presenceof- J. `BoNsALL TAYLOR, LEWIS Gaoss.

